Use the instrument carefully
Signal Walk Responsible Use
Last updated: July 3, 2026
What Signal Walk does
When you start a Walk Capture, Signal Walk organizes readings made available by your Android phone into a timed field session. Depending on your device and permissions, the session may include:
- Counts and signal strength of nearby Bluetooth advertisements
- Counts and signal strength of nearby Wi-Fi broadcasts
- Cellular network type and signal strength
- Motion and environmental sensor readings
- Location-fix availability and accuracy
- Notable changes recorded during the session
Signal Walk observes through supported Android APIs. It does not join nearby networks, connect to nearby devices, or inspect message, call, or network-traffic content.
Session content is kept locally unless you export or share it. Optional online map imagery and Google model-delivery or SDK-diagnostic requests are disclosed separately in the Privacy Policy.
Appropriate uses
Signal Walk is appropriate for activities such as:
- Learning what wireless and sensor information Android makes available
- Comparing ambient conditions between places or times
- Testing your own device, network environment, or property
- Debugging sensor availability and permission behavior on hardware you control
- Personal field notes and hobbyist wireless exploration
- Software development, accessibility testing, education, and open-source research
What the results cannot tell you
- They do not identify people. A signal count is not a person count, and a radio observation does not establish who carried or operated a device.
- They do not explain intent or cause. Signal changes can have many ordinary technical and environmental explanations.
- They do not detect threats. More devices, stronger signals, or unusual readings are not warnings by themselves.
- They do not establish surveillance. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi activity is normal in homes, offices, vehicles, and public spaces.
- They are not validated forensic evidence. Signal Walk sessions are not authenticated, calibrated, or designed for legal, employment, disciplinary, or safety-critical decisions.
Inappropriate uses
Do not use Signal Walk to:
- Surveil, track, monitor, or follow another person without their informed consent
- Harass, intimidate, or stalk an individual
- Build a profile of a person's home, workplace, routine, relationships, or movements
- Attribute a signal, device, event, or behavior to a specific person without independent and lawful evidence
- Accuse, implicate, report, discipline, or make safety decisions about someone based on a Signal Walk session
- Collect observations in restricted or private environments without permission
- Support professional surveillance, covert investigation, or law-enforcement activity
- Interfere with, access, disrupt, jam, spoof, or attempt to compromise a device or network
Public spaces still require judgment
Ambient wireless activity may be observable in a public place, but context and repetition matter. A single personal field session is different from repeatedly collecting observations around a particular person's home, workplace, vehicle, or routine.
Passive technology does not make every use harmless. A pattern of observation can become invasive, intimidating, or unlawful even when the app does not identify anyone by itself.
Use Signal Walk to understand environments and devices. When a proposed use centers on another person, stop and choose a different approach.
Handle exports carefully
You are responsible for files you create, retain, and share. Before sending an export to another person or service, consider whether the file contains more detail than the recipient needs.
Use the default Redacted export mode for ordinary sharing. Choose Detailed mode only for a specific technical reason and keep the file limited to trusted people and systems. Summary-only mode provides the smallest footprint.
Delete exported files when they are no longer needed. Removing a session from Signal Walk does not delete copies already saved elsewhere.
A simple rule
Explore signals, not people. Use Signal Walk to learn what your phone can observe and how environments differ. Do not use it to make claims about who was present, what someone was doing, or whether a person posed a risk.
Contact
For product support or questions about responsible use, email support@signalwalk.com.
For general project inquiries, email hello@signalwalk.com. To report a potential vulnerability, email security@signalwalk.com.